Sun Devils seeded 3rd nationally

Grateful is how Arizona State baseball coach Pat Murphy described being seeded third nationally in the NCAA Tournament and opening the postseason at home for a second straight year.

That was just one of many emotions for the fatigued Murphy after a weekend attached to the phone as one of 10 members on the NCAA Division I baseball committee produced personally unsatisfying results.

Murphy must oppose one of his best coaching friends, Vanderbilt's Tim Corbin, in a regional at Packard Stadium starting Friday. He also had to call his other best coaching friend, Oregon State's Pat Casey, to inform him that the two-time defending champion Beavers missed out on the 64-team NCAA field.

The committee also paired four Western regionals so winners will face each other in best-of-3 super regionals, a geographic policy that Murphy opposes.

"You're one of 10 voices and since I was sitting at home, I think sometimes I was muted," Murphy said. "There's some things that didn't happen just the way I'd like, but that's why you're part of a committee."

Murphy was unable to attend committee meetings in Indianapolis because ASU's regular season-ending series at Arizona ran through Saturday. He plans to make the trip next year, like he did in his committee debut in 2007.

Of the five Pac-10 teams that are in the postseason, only three can get through to the College World Series because of the super regional alignment.

ASU (45-11) opens regional play at 7 p.m. Friday against American East Conference champion Stony Brook (34-24). Second-seeded Vanderbilt (40-20) plays in the 2 p.m. opener of the double-elimination tournament against Oklahoma (34-24-1).

Games continue at 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday and 1 and 6 p.m. Sunday. If necessary, a game also would be played Monday at 6 p.m. The regional winner meets the winner of the Long Beach State regional that includes San Diego, California and Fresno State. If ASU wins, that super regional will be in Tempe, June 6-9.

The eight super regional winners go to the College World Series, June 14-25 in Omaha, Neb.

ASU is on the same side of the CWS bracket with No. 2 national seed North Carolina, No. 6 Rice and No. 7 Louisiana State. The national seeds on the other side of the CWS bracket are No. 1 Miami, No. 4 Florida State, No. 5 Cal State Fullerton and No. 8 Georgia.

Last year only three of the national seeds, including ASU, made it through the first two rounds of postseason to Omaha.

The Sun Devils will be playing for the first time against Stony Brook (N.Y.) but could face Vanderbilt for the second time this season. They beat the Commodores 18-6 on Feb. 23. "You don't want to have an easy road to Omaha," Davis said. "I'm glad we have a good schedule to play. It's going to make us a better team for the stretch run."

ASU is ranked No. 4 and Vanderbilt is No. 21 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll.

Catcher Petey Paramore believes that the Sun Devils will benefit from the experience of reaching the 2007 College World Series. ASU last made consecutive appearances in Omaha in 1993 and '94.

"It's tough to get there when you don't know how the road is paved," Paramore said. "We're fortunate enough to have an idea of what needs to be done and what kind of baseball we need to play."

The two-time Pac-10 champions are 35-3 at Packard, the same record they had at home following the postseason last season.